29 Septemebr 2015

 

 

StratMin Global Resources Plc

("StratMin" or the "Company")

 

Unaudited Half Year Results for the Six Months to 30 June 2015

 

StratMin (AIM: STGR), London's only listed graphite production and exploration company, announces its unaudited half year results for the six months to 30 June 2015.

 

Summary of events for the six months to 30 June 2015

·     New Chief Executive Officer, Brett Boynton, appointed

·     Joint Venture with Tirupati signed following which Shishir Poddar was appointed Technical Executive Director and Head of Marketing

·     94% Total Graphitic Carbon grade achieved in flake concentrate production

·     Completion of a £900,000 fundraising at 4.75p per share

·     Management team in London and Madagascar strengthened

 

Summary of post Balance Sheet Events

·     £2 million farm in deal announced with ASX listed Bass Metals Ltd to fund expansion of operations

·     Completion of a £625,000 fundraising at 4p per share

 

Brett Boynton, CEO, commented, "The Company has come through a transformational period to the half year with significant progress at an operational and corporate level. There is now a clear pathway to sustained profitable production at Loharano and with this, we are looking ahead to expansion both within the portfolio and with our Joint Venture partner, Tirupati. The graphite industry continues to command headlines with discussion on renewable energy and battery storage as well as a growing number of applications in industry. Stratmin is leading the pack of a new generation of graphite companies, with actual production and sales and an exciting growth story. Our recent announcement on the partnership with ASX listed Bass Metals Ltd provides funding to accelerate this strategy and ongoing access to the very active Australian graphite market."

 

For further information please visit www.stratminglobal.com or contact:

 

StratMin Global Resources Plc	+44 (0) 20  7467 1700
Laurie Hunter (Chairman) / Brett Boynton (CEO)
Strand Hanson (Nominated and Financial Adviser) James Spinney / Ritchie Balmer	+44 (0) 20 7409 3494
Beaufort Securities (Broker) Jon Belliss   Blytheweigh (Financial PR)	+44 (0) 20 7382 8300
Camilla Horsfall/Megan Ray	+44 (0) 20 7138 3204

 

CEO's Statement

Management has been focused on stabilisation, optimisation and expansion at both an operational and corporate level since the beginning of the year with non essential items being streamlined. Non-operational subsidiaries are being closed, with the Jersey subsidiary company Stratmin Global Graphite Limited dissolved on 1 June 2015 and the Singapore subsidiary currently being wound up. The reported operating loss for the period includes a non-cash one time write off of £680,000 for items historically capitalised to the Jersey subsidiary. The normalised loss for the period is therefore reduced to (£1,024,000) versus the comparable prior period loss of (£1,231,000).

 

Stratmin's operational team in Madagascar has worked tirelessly on achieving production grades of 94%+ Total Graphitic Carbon (TGC) flake graphite concentrate and increasing output volumes for sale to our off take partner. This program was accelerated in the last quarter of the reporting period with the introduction of technical expertise from Tirupati Carbons and Chemicals (P) Ltd, an experienced graphite mining, processing and marketing team co-founded by the Company's new Technical Executive Director and Head of Marketing, Mr Shishir Poddar.

 

Mr Poddar joined the Board of the Company and also brought Tirupati into a Joint Venture partnership with Stratmin in June 2015. He has worked with the team on a constant optimisation program that has led to the introduction of twenty-four hour operations in August 2015 which will extract increased efficiencies and value from the capital investment in the Loharano plant. Constant optimisation continues and all of the lessons learned in building Loharano are being taken into the design and development of our expansion projects.

 

The effort by the operational team has positioned Stratmin to be a sustainable low cost graphite producer with exciting growth opportunities over the next two years.

 

At a corporate level, the Company appointed Mr Brett Boynton to the role of CEO. Mr Boynton is working closely with the operational team to ensure they are sufficiently capitalised to deliver on the production and growth strategy and is evaluating a number of opportunities for cost cutting and corporate growth.

 

The Company has recently been introduced to the very large graphite investor base in Australia through a farm in deal with ASX listed Bass Metals Ltd. This transaction will see Bass invest in Stratmin's subsidiary holding company, Graphmada Mauritius, in stages, earning up to a 35% interest in the company. This collaboration significantly strengthens the financial support for the Stratmin group. The initial investment of up to £2 million will fund further work at Loharano and Mahefedok, the Joint Venture investment with Tirupati at Vatomaina and the growing working capital requirements for increased production.

 

The Board is confident that the measures undertaken this year and plans in place for continued performance improvement will yield sustained shareholder value. We appreciate the ongoing support from shareholders and look forward to delivering further news flow.

 

Unaudited Group Income Statement

For the 6 months ended 30 June 2015

 

	6 months to	6 months to	12 months to
	30 Jun 2015	30 Jun 2014	31 Dec 2014
	Unaudited	Unaudited	Audited
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Revenue	152	-	153
Cost of sales	(182)	-	(185)
Gross margin	(30)	-	(32)
Administrative expenses	(888)	(1,220)	(2,298)
Other operating income	8	-	-
Other operating expenses	(105)	(11)	(15)
Operating loss	(1,015)	(1,231)	(2,345)
Finance costs	(9)	(153)	(35)
(Loss)/gain on disposal of investments	(684)	(13)	-
Finance income	-	-	-
Loss before taxation	(1,708)	(1,397)	(2,380)
Taxation expense	(1)	-	(4)
Loss for the period	(1,709)	(1,397)	(2,384)
	Pence	Pence	Pence
Loss per share attributable to owners of the Company for the period:
Basic and diluted	(1.32p)	(1.55p)	(2.47p)

 

Unaudited Group Statement of Comprehensive Income

For the 6 months ended 30 June 2015

 

	6 months to	6 months to	12 months to
	30 Jun 2015	30 Jun 2014	31 Dec 2014
	Unaudited	Unaudited	Audited
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Loss for the period	(1,709)	(1,397)	(2,507)
Other comprehensive income/(expense):
Exchange differences on translation of foreign operations	(34)	-	(49)
Market value adjustment to investments		(11)	(20)
Other comprehensive income/(expense) for the period	(34)	(11)	(69)
Total comprehensive expense for the period attributable to equity holders of the parent	(1,743)	(1,408)	(2,453)

 

Unaudited Group Statement of Financial Position

As at 30 June 2015

 

		30 Jun 2015	30 Jun 2014	31 Dec 2014
	Notes	Unaudited	Unaudited	Audited
		£'000	£'000	£'000
NON-CURRENT ASSETS
Goodwill		5,012	5,012	5,012
Fixed assets		1,242	1,124	1,230
Available for sale investments		6	15	6
		6,260	6,151	6,248
CURRENT ASSETS
Inventories		230	252	242
Trade and other receivables		307	219	357
Prepaid expenses & accrued income		34	70	-
Cash and cash equivalents		43	369	91
		614	910	690
TOTAL ASSETS		6,874	7,061	6,938
EQUITY
Share capital	6	5,301	4,027	4,505
Share premium		31,823	31,807	31,771
Investment reserve		(32)	(23)	(32)
Merger reserve		23,460	23,460	23,460
Reverse acquisition reserve		(48,478)	(48,478)	(48,478)
Other reserve		350	153	293
Retained earnings		(6,435)	(4,334)	(5,321)
Equity attributable to owners of the Company and total equity		5,989	6,612	6,198
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Trade and other payables		641	317	382
Short term borrowings		112	-	226
		753	317	608
NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES
Decommissioning obligation		132	132	132
		6,874	7,061	6,938

 

 

 

 

Notes to the interim statement

For the 6 months ended 30 June 2015

 

1. General information

StratMin Global Resources plc is a company incorporated in the United Kingdom under the Companies Act 2006. The Company's main activity is that of Graphite Mining Production. 

 

The Company's functional currencies are Sterling and US dollar.  The Company's financial statements are presented in Sterling, which is the Company's presentational currency.

 

2. Basis of preparation

The financial information set out in this interim report for the six months ended 30 June 2015 is unaudited and does not constitute statutory accounts as defined in Section 434 of Companies Act (2006). The Group's statutory financial statements for the period ended 31 December 2014, prepared under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), have been filed with the Registrar of Companies.  The auditor's report on those financial statements was unqualified and did not contain a statement under section 498 (2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006.

 

The interim financial statements of StratMin Global Resources plc have been prepared in accordance with the recognition and measurement principles of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as adopted by the European Union (EU) and on the same basis and using the same accounting policies as used in the Company's Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2014.

 

These financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost convention. The Directors believe that the going concern basis is appropriate for the preparation of these interim financial statements as the Company is in a position to meet all its liabilities as they fall due. These interim financial statements for the six months to 30 June 2015 were approved by the board on 28 September 2015.

 

3. Write off on closure of subsidiary

 

On 1 June 2015, 100% owned subsidiary, Stratmin Global Graphite Limited, was dissolved and removed from the Jersey Companies Registry. A non-cash, write down of £680,000 on dissolution was recorded.

 

4. Loss per share

 

Loss per share is calculated by reference to the weighted average of 129,684,841 ordinary shares in issue during the period (31 December 2014 - 96,473,697 and 30 June 2014 - 89,924,985).

 

The diluted loss per share is the same as the basic loss per share as the losses in each period have an anti-dilutive effect.

 

5. Dividend

The board is not recommending the payment of an interim dividend for the period ended 30 June 2015.

 

 

 

6. Share capital
	30 Jun 2015	30 Jun 2014	31 Dec  2014
Issued and fully paid:
Ordinary shares of £0.04	132,526,651	100,669,953	60,859,756
	£'000	£'000	£'000
Issued and fully paid:
Ordinary shares of £0.04	5,301	4,027	4,271
	5,301	4,027	4,271

 

On 23 January 2015, the Company issued 945,043 new ordinary shares at a price of 4p per share to satisfy certain existing commitments.

 

On 26 January 2015, the Company issued 18,947,369 new ordinary shares of 4p each as part of an external placing at a placing price of 4.75p each.

 

7. Post Balance Sheet Events

On 7 July 2015, the Company issued 15,625,000 new ordinary shares of 4p each as part of an external placing at a placing price of 4p each.

 

On 3 August 2015, the Company issued 1,972,387 new ordinary shares of 4 pence to Tirupati, at a price of 5.07 pence per share, as consideration for the first £100,000 installment due, for technical services provided by Tirupati to the Company under the 18 June 2015 Joint Venture and Collaboration agreement.

 

On 2 September 2015, the Company entered into an agreement with ASX listed Bass Metals Ltd to farm out up to 25% of Graphmada Mauritius for £2,000,000 with an option to increase the holding to a 35% interest by 31 December 2015.

 

On 7 September 2015, the company issued 310,000 new ordinary shares of 4p each at a value of 5p as a final termination payment of £15,500 to the previous CEO.

 

8. Distribution

The half yearly report for the six-month period ended 30 June 2015 will shortly be available on the Company's website (www.stratminglobal.com) or directly from the Company at its registered address.

 

-ends-